Sept. 6, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A pair of goals in both halves propelled the No. 2 University of Notre Dame men’s soccer team to a 4-1 win over Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon in the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament at Alumni Stadium.
Saturday’s game originally was scheduled for Friday evening but could not be played due to inclement weather. Indiana defeated Kentucky, 1-0, in Friday’s tournament opener. That match was stopped in the 78th minute due to lightning.
Notre Dame (2-0-1) used tallies from Leon Brown, Evan Panken and Vince Cicciarelli along with an own goal to topple the Big Green. Panken also had an assist as did Nick Besler and Jeffrey Farina.
Giorgio Gorini scored for Dartmouth (0-1-0). The Big Green are coached by former Fighting Irish player and assistant coach Chad Riley.
“It was a very good result, but I never felt comfortable during the whole game,” Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark said. “To be truthful, I was a bit disappointed in the way the team played and I think they’ll be disappointed with themselves.
“When you don’t play as well as you would have liked you have to give some credit to your opponent. Chad (Riley) did a really good job. This was always going to be a difficult game for us because he knows exactly what we do. He played for me and coached for me for six years. He also was with us in Africa (this summer) for 10 days so he even knows this group very well. That made it difficult, but the result was terrific.”
Brown opened the scoring in the 15th minute when he took a centering cross from Besler near the top of the penalty box and drilled home his team-leading second goal of the season.
The Fighting Irish increased the lead to two in the 42nd minute on Panken’s first goal of the campaign. The junior midfielder started the sequence when he played the ball to Farina, who then dished it back to Panken and he scored from seven yards out.
Dartmouth sliced the Irish advantage in half in the 54th minute when Gorino banged home a ball that was loose following a scramble in front of the goalmouth.
“It was great to get the early goal and then their goalkeeper kind of gave us another goal, but it was good anticipation by (Jeffrey) Farina and (Evan) Panken,” Clark said. “When they (Dartmouth) get the goal back it’s all of a sudden a game. They have long throw-ins and some very big bodies that we had to deal with on set pieces and that was always going to be a problem. Their goal came off a set piece.”
Notre Dame regained its two-goal cushion in the 59th minute when Panken played the ball to Cicciarelli, who tucked his shot just inside the near post from close range. The game’s final tally came in the 69th minute as Irish midfielder Connor Klekota crossed the ball in from near the endline and it deflected off a Dartmouth defender and into the back of the net.
The Irish were efficient as they netted the four goals on seven shots on frame. The Big Green finished with three attempts on goal. Goalkeeper Patrick Wall made two saves for Notre Dame. Dartmouth’s Stefan Cleveland had one save in the first half before being replaced at halftime by James Hickok, who recorded two stops. The Big Green attempted one more corner kick (6-5) than the Irish.
The Berticelli Tournament will conclude on Monday with Indiana facing Dartmouth at 1 p.m. (ET) and Notre Dame squaring off against Kentucky at 6 p.m. Both matches will take place at Alumni Stadium.
Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament
Sept. 6, 2014
Alumni Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
Dartmouth (0-1-0) 0 1 – 1
#2 Notre Dame (2-0-1) 2 2 – 4
Scoring: ND: Leon Brown (Nick Besler) 14:32; ND: Evan Panken (Jeffrey Farina) 41:18; DC: Giorgio Gorini (unassisted) 53:45; ND: Vince Cicciarelli (Evan Panken) 58:58; ND: Own Goal 68:14
— Sean Carroll, Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director
–ND–